VBS- week 3

Ok, continuing the deeply compressed weeks to try to get caught up.... onto week three-the week of July 8th.

Sunday- Finally returned to Pappy's house and tried to "get settled" which didn't really amount to much, because we were trying not to put anything into drawers, cabinets, etc, because we probably would have forgotten them when it was time to pack! :) Bruce had VBS play practice, and it was his only real run through before the first night of VBS because we were in Indiana the whole week before--talk about stressing him out!

Monday- a pretty normal day, started to try to go through the various boxes and start sorting piles- going to Costa Rica, getting rid of, and storing--temporarily.  Monday night was the kick off for VBS.  I also found out that VBS and all of the kids had chosen us to sponsor--which means that all of the money that the children and workers brought was going to be donated to us and our mission of going to Costa Rica--what a blessing.  So, instead of packing every night--like I had planned--I felt I needed to stick around and make sure I was a part of something bigger than packing.  I mean, after all, they were sponsoring us. How else could I show my appreciation than by being a part of VBS and making sure that I was building relationships with people who believed in what we were getting ready to do?  And I am so glad I did!!! WHAT AN AWESOME VBS!! By far the best so far!  So happy that Emme and Leyton were able to be a part of that before we left! They really, really, REALLY enjoyed themselves!!  I also got to watch Bruce in his play--he was awesome and funny, of course!

Tuesday- Emme and Leyton stayed home with us the whole month of July and this was the first time since we got back from Indiana that I didn't have to work and the kids stayed home with us!  It was a transition for all of us.  The kids are used to being outside and playing and eating every 2 hours...and with everything going on and being at a different house and needing to get back on some type of schedule with sleeping, routine, etc.--needless to say, the kids were getting cabin fever and we had to adjust! Emme and I went to have a Mommy and Emme day and we visited our dear friend and hair stylist Sheila.  We got our hair cut and I had to go back to more of my natural hair color since I know I won't be able to (a) find another hair stylist like Sheila and (b) be able to afford the awesome red, blonde highlights and low lights that she gave me!  So back to brown, but she added a few 'peek-a-boo' highlights and will grow out without really visible roots!  Thanks Sheila for everything!! We will miss you!

Wednesday-I was informed late Tuesday night that Bruce would have to make his last trip to Indiana to have our birth certificates--our last paperwork--to be apostilled.  That was fine, he would go up and come back in time for church, etc.  However, he told me he would not be back to be able to present at one of the speaking arrangements he and a friend set up, so he asked me if I would be able to do it alone.  I had no idea who I was presenting to, what to talk about specifically, or what to even say.  But I accepted and met one of our friends from church to speak at the Harrodsburg Rotary Club about our mission to Costa Rica, what God had been doing in our lives and about our future.  It was really neat and I felt so honored to be asked!  God really took over, because I only had about 20 minutes to talk about everything that has happened with us over the past 3 years or so, and it was perfect! I really enjoyed it and felt blessed and honored to be a part of that night! While I was presenting, the kids got to go and visit and play at their 2nd home (and school) God's Treehouse.  I was able to get lots of stuff accomplished and errands ran and presented at the Rotary Club, and the kids were able to run, play and see their friends!  All in all, a good day!

Thursday-Bruce and I ran errands all day, I can't even remember what, who, or where, but we were running.  Kids went to our dear friends' and former neighbors house to hang out and play while we met with our insurance agent for lunch.  He also has become a great Christian person in our lives.  Who knew that your insurance agent could also be such a good friend, accountability partner and awesome brother in Christ.  Thanks for lunch Jack Williams! And if anyone needs insurance needs, check out Jack Williams at State Farm in Danville (that's free advertising!) :)

Friday- The last night of VBS and all week, Steve and Terry (Southside's children's ministry) have been collecting money and if they raised $750.00, then Steve would take 2 pies to the face.  Well, after and awesome week at "The Incrediworld Amusement Park" the kids raised about $800.00+!!!! That is awesome!! But on top of that, there was an anonymous donor that would match up to $500.00 if the kids raised $500.00+.  So that was $800.00 + $500.00 =$1300.00!!  UNBELIEVABLE!!!  But no, then another anonymous donor pledged $250.00.  So that is a total of $1550.00+ raised for us at VBS!!!  GOD IS AMAZING!!!  We were completely honored, humbled, amazed, thankful and appreciative of being picked as the mission to raise money for during VBS!!  There are lots of other missions that they could have chosen, but this proves that not only Southside, but children, workers and some people who have never met us believe in what we are doing!  All the Glory be to GOD!!!  And of course, Steve had 2 pies to the face!  That was priceless!  Thanks everyone for believing in us and our mission!

 After VBS, it was time to decompress which means--START PACKING!!!!

Saturday- Was a day of rest.  It was Bruce's last Saturday men's study and it was quite an emotional one!  We are really going to miss the bible studies, services and just everything about our home church!  But one thing is for sure...we know that we have a family at Southside, and we know that they believe in us and most of all pray for us during all of this!  Thank you Southside and everyone who has become a part of our family!

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME AND ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD!!!!

Fort Wayne Trip--week 2

So, to continue the catching up process, here is the continuation of the week 1:

Week 2- July 1

Sunday- We went to church in the morning, came home and finished cleaning, packing last minute things, and lastly we turned over keys to the new owners.  It was definitely bittersweet, but everything went well.  We left Chestnut St. and headed to Pappy's house to get ready to leave for our trip home to see family in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Monday- In the morning, we packed the car and got ready to drive to Indiana.  But first, we had to deal with a few things before we left.  One was to take one of our cats to their new home--Nick was adopted by one of my co-workers! Thanks to Rita, he is very much adjusted and doing very well.  As for his sister, we had to take her to the vet.  She is not a cat that would have adjusted very well and she would have been miserable any where.  She went peaceful and we love and miss her very much, but know that it was for the best.  We love you Nestra Sue! See you on the other side!

Tuesday- We arrived in Fort Wayne late Monday night and stayed at Bruce's brother, Brian's house.  We stayed there long enough to sleep, woke up the next morning and headed to have family pictures with my family.  It was hot, we were sweaty but we were really glad we did it!

After we finished family pictures, all of us, my mom and dad and my brother Steve and his fiance, Fran, all went to Adams Lake to spend the day with my Uncle Al and Aunt Beth at their lake house.  It was really a good time and I am so glad that the kids got to see what I experienced when I was younger and spent time at the lake.  We played, swam, looked for "sea shells" (mussel shells), went on the wave runner, and finished the evening with a really nice pontoon ride around the lake.  The kids really enjoyed it and it was nice to just hang out with family.

Wednesday- We had lunch with Emily Kennerk (Donlan) and Colleen Winters (Donlan).  The kids got to play and we were able to play together and we were able to catch up!  We were so excited to hang out with the Donlans!  After lunch, they invited us to go to Mr. and Mrs. D's house (their parent's house) for a July 4th cookout.  We headed over there are hung out with Mr. and Mrs. D.  It was really good to see them and just to hang out with the whole family! There are no other people from my elementary and high school days that I would want to hang out with!  They have been a huge part of my upbringing and they are still important in my life today!  That is over 30 years! Thanks Donlans!

Thursday- We hung out at home and just had a lazy day!  Well worth it!

Friday- We went out to Brian and Kathy's house for a Crawford cookout and get together before we left.  It was really nice to get to hang out with all of the family.  The kids got to play with their cousins, jump on the trampoline and see all of the family one last time before we headed out!

Saturday- We got up Saturday morning to Kathy cooking everyone breakfast.  After we ate, we got everything packed and headed out.  When we got to Indianapolis, we stopped in to visit friends and their new baby.  We all got to meet baby Levi James Payton.  He was such a good baby, and Emme just loved him!  Leyton really could have cared less--but he definitely loved Kona-their black lab. It was really great to see Jennifer and Jason and to finally see their new addition to their family.  On the way home, we stopped at Edinburgh outlet stores to look for some stuff for Costa Rica.  We finally arrived home late and hit the bed for our real times being homeless and living in Pappy's basement and begin the process of packing and everything else!

Although it was a whirlwind trip it was nice to see everyone and the kids got to see all of their cousins and family!  Week 2 is complete!

Catching up week 1.....

Since we are so behind on our blog posts, and so much has happened, I am going to have to condense into weekly recap posts.  Then maybe everyone can get an idea of what we have been through these last few weeks!

Week of June 25

This was the last week of work for me.  I worked really hard to try to get everything finished--but didn't.  But that is to be expected!

Monday- I worked, Emme and Leyton went to school, and later in the afternoon, Leyton had a dr.'s appointment.

Tuesday- I took off work to take Leyton to the dentist to have his front tooth pulled.  He fell last summer and it was starting to die, so the dentist thought it would be best to pull it before we left the country.  He did awesome! hardly any bleeding and no complaints AT ALL from him! And if you ask him what happened to his tooth, he comes up with all kinds of interesting responses-it fell out, his daddy pulled it, the tooth fairy pulled it--and he loves to show you this:

Wednesday- We drove to Frankfort to sign paperwork to close on the house.  We were planning on having to write a check for our share of the closing--which would have wiped out our checking account, until we received our check from selling the house, but when we got there, signed our name thirty thousand times, we actually didn't have to write a check and walked away with our own! God is good!  After we walked out to the parking lot, we both got really emotional.  We asked the new owners when they wanted to take possession of the house (we assumed July 1st, but we were going to try to ask if we could have another week because we were planning to go to Indiana and that would give us more time for packing, moving and cleaning.  But they wanted July 1st ...so that meant we had exactly Thursday, Friday and Saturday to pack, move and clean before we gave possession on Sunday and then drive to Indiana on Monday. WHEW!

Obviously, we did all of that--barely, but we pulled it off!

Also during that week, we started all of our official student visa/residency paperwork.  So for that, Bruce drove to Indianapolis and back--TWICE and to Frankfort and back TWICE, and then found out he had to order our birth certificates on -line and wait for them to come by mail.  Once that happened, that was a trip back to both Indianapolis and Frankfort to get the official apostille seal (which means official business).

Thursday and Friday-I worked and my co-workers threw me a "just in case" going a w we packed and cleaned and started to move out of our house to Pappy's basement.  Pappy is a guy from our church, who is an amazing, selfless, Christ-like man who, without him, we would be no where and have nothing in this time between selling the house and leaving for Costa Rica.

Saturday- we had our yard sale and sold or got rid of everything we owned.  It was well worth it as we did not take anything back into the house and made a really good profit!

It was quite a busy week, but we survived and onto the next two weeks--the condensed version!

30 bags.....

So Friday evening there was a meeting and prayer time for Costa Rica at church.  Bruce was gone at CIY all week so it was just me and the kids.  At that meeting, we started talking about all the logistics--there are 12 people--no 16 people--well 12 people and The Crawfords.  Which means the plan is 12 people are returning to the States.  WHEW! Seems so real! And we were talking about the infamous packing party that usually happens the evening before we leave.  I looked at Sara and said, "What packing party?" WE are the ones packing, so there really isn't anything to pack as a team!

That's when it hit me.  There are 12 people AND the Crawfords which means 16 free bags to check, and then an additional $30.00 for each additional bag up to 16, which equals 32 bags.  But Sara then informed me that there would need to be some extra space for a few things here and there. So we were down to 30 bags....

                            30 BAGS

30 bags to fit everything we are taking.
30 bags to bring everything we need.
30 bags to fit our life into.

That became my mantra.  I can fit my life into 30 bags, I can fit my life into 30 bags, I can fit my life into 30 bags.  OH and did I mention that Sara also told me that it has to be duffel bags. 

Rephrase.....I can fit my life into 30 duffel bags, I can fit my life into 30 duffel bags, I can fit my life into 30 duffel bags.

What about you? Could you fit your life into 30 duffel bags? What about you and your spouse AND your two children?  Makes you really examine what is important and just how much STUFF we have.  Don't we live in a great nation where we are able to have so much STUFF? Lucky us!  When I think about everyone around the world who don't have a lot of STUFF, fitting my life into 30 duffel bags seems pretty lucky, easy and BLESSED!

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us! We are ready to send out our support raising letters.  If you would like us to send a letter your way, just send us your address.  If you would like to meet with us, just send us a message and we would love to sit down and talk more about why we are fitting our lives into 30 duffel bags!

In HIM,
The Crawfords

Being inspired......

Ok, so last night I was searching around facebook and came across some great inspirational quotes/pictures.  Above you will see what I came across.  I really felt like God was talking to me last night.  I have really been thinking/praying/obsessing/worrying/not worrying/thinking/praying/obsessing (do you see a pattern??) about ALL the money that WE have to raise to be able to get to Costa Rica in July and stay.  It doesn't add up!  But there are a lot of things that don't add up--but they = GOD.
Example- 5+2=5000 R12= God's math
Example- selling a house without even trying= God's math
Example- hate yard sales, have the buyers of the house want and need all of your furniture=God's math
Example- sell house at certain said price, get full offer + an extra $1,000.= God's math
Example- being concerned about not knowing anyone in a new country, having people near us and friends and a family and church family before we even put our feet in that country=God's math
Example- selling everything you own, depending on people that God will use to fund our survival to live in another country doing HIS work, learning another, if not two languages, leaving everything we know as "normal life" and giving it up to become servants of an unbelievable, unseen, and unknown God to many parts of the world=God's math.

I know that God will provide everything we need--then why is it so hard to try to get it to add up??!!

Today I was talking to a co worker, and she has been pushing me to send out our support raising letters.  I told her that I just didn't feel like it was time.  I told her I am sooooo far out of my comfort zone!  I told her, "I have no problem selling everything I own, I have no problem going to another country to live, I have no fear or problems with taking my children into another country--but tell me I have to ask people to give me money!  FORGET IT!  I just can't do it!  She responded with, "You are not asking people for money for YOU, it is not for YOU, it is not because of YOU."

What an eye opener!

So, if you want to be a part of GOD'S WORK in Costa Rica and you would like to partner with US doing GOD'S WORK.  Please feel free to get in contact with us.  We would love to sit and talk with you about what God has planned for us and how you can be a part of it!  I promise it will be a wild, but amazing journey!

(Side note: For those of you who really haven't heard the details of our mission plans, we will  have to raise all of our own support through friends, family, acquaintances, etc.  We are not supported by an agency or a mission organization.  We will not be able to work to earn an income, so everything we need is 100% donor--long term supporters, one time gifts, etc.  Our church is our sending agency and they will handle all of our finances--they are supporting us as well, but not 100% of the support is from our church.  Most of our support will have to come from multiple sources.  That is where we are now, trying to find people who believe in our mission of doing God's work in San Jose, Costa Rica.  We are partnering with an organization called the Abraham Project--a multifaceted operation with various ministries.  We are not going with a specific purpose or role--we were asked to join the mission and we are going with open hearts and open minds and being flexible.  We are willing to serve in any way needed.  This could include, but is not limited to: house parents, leading teams, working construction, fundraising(eek!), running a guest house, teaching English, working with the Deaf community, interpreting, traveling, helping in the children's homes, subbing for the house parents, working in the medical and consultation offices, cleaning, delivering, supporting--being used, utilized and serving any way needed!  So please, take this time to pray for us and to see if God lays it on your heart to partner with us--or if you happen to have lots of money that you have no idea what to do with--and get in contact with us!  We would love to share what God has been doing in our lives since the last time our paths crossed!) THANK YOU! 

Contact us:  crawfords4him@me.com

Send us support:
Southside Christian Church
PO Box 456
Harrodsburg, KY 40330
memo line: Crawfords or Costa Rica

Send us prayers:
Accepted 24 hours--day or night!

In HIM,
The Crawfords

God is so good....

For those of you who checked out the last post, it was kind of a hard one for me...giving away our puppy, but good news!  She was adopted!  God is so good.  I was checking the website all the time, and finally her picture was removed from the adoption page.  I know that she went to a good home!  It makes me feel even better--if she went with us to Costa Rica, she would have been miserable.  Not fair to her at all!  But now, I know she is living it up with her new family.

Also, this past week, we had two friends that welcomed new family members!  Congratulations to one of my best friends and former college roommate--Jennifer (Dawson) Payton and Jason Payton in welcoming their first born Levi!  And to our friends, and my co-worker, Derek and Lyndsie Drury on welcoming number 3 Lucas!  So happy for both families!

As far as us and our progress to getting to Costa Rica, I started going through some things in the house and started making three groups--taking, selling and giving away.  Might add one more group depending on how many things go in the taking pile.

It is really hard to think that everything that we will take with us will have to fit into checked luggage on an airplane.  We will not ship anything, and will store next to nothing if it doesn't go with us this trip!  I warned the kids tonight that this week we will be going through their stuff and giving a lot--A LOT of it away.  I know it will be hard for them, but it is something we have to do--and besides, IT IS JUST STUFF!!

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and  rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  FOR WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS, THERE YOUR HEART WILL BE ALSO."  Matthew 6:19-21

Thanks God, I think I understand this now!

In Him,
The Crawfords

Saying goodbye.....

Today was one of the hardest for me in the preparation of leaving and transitioning.  We had to take our dog Ivi (sounds like EV) to a rescue today.  We have only had her for 3 months, and she had become a really great dog..puppy problems, but really she was good.  We thought we could take her to Costa Rica and she would be fine.  But as she got older, we noticed she really needed a place to run, possibly a play partner and didn't really like a lot of commotion, loud noises or dogs and strange people all over the place--which is exactly what Costa Rica is like!  I know that she would have been miserable if she had gone with us.  So we took her to a wonderful rescue called Haven for dogs rescue
They met her and said she would be easy to adopt.  Please pray that the right family comes along and adopts her into their family and loves her the way she deserves.
We will miss you Ivi!